Until recently, any engagement with daily life remained the by-product of chance archaeological discoveries. This can be attributed, in no small measure, to issues of gender and class among archaeologists. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, men from society’s elite, for whom domestic concerns were best left relegated to wives and/or household staffs, dominated the field of archaeology. Inasmuch as they disregarded domestic concerns in their own lives, they were little inclined to consider them a topic worthy of study in antiquity.
Chapter from: Saana Svärd and Agnès Garcia-Ventura, eds., Studying Gender in the Ancient Near East. University Park, Pennsylvania: Eisenbrauns, 2018. (30% off by using coupon code NR18).
By Beth Alpert Nakhai
Arizona Center for Judaic Studies
University of Arizona
May 2019